League-leading Red Wings defeat Blackhawks

CHICAGO  Henrik Zetterberg, Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson scored in the first period, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Sunday night for their third straight win and seventh in eight games.

Jiri Hudler had two assists and the NHL-leading Red Wings beat the Blackhawks for the first time this season after losing their first four contests (0-3-1) against Chicago.

Rene Bourque scored for the injury-depleted Blackhawks, whose losing streak reached a season-high five games (0-4-1).

Detroit's Chris Osgood, who entered the game with a league-leading 1.71 goals-against average, made 19 saves. The Red Wings killed both Chicago power-play chances and have killed 25 straight over seven games.

Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin made 25 saves.

THRASHERS 5, SABRES 2: At Atlanta, Marian Hossa broke out of a slump with two goals and Atlanta beat Buffalo to extend the Sabres' longest losing streak in almost two years.

Johan Hedberg made 37 stops and the Thrashers handed the Sabres their sixth straight loss. The last time Buffalo lost six in a row was March 18-27, 2006. The Sabres (19-18-3) have made the conference finals each of the last two years but are in danger of missing the playoffs this season.

Hossa had only two goals in his last 14 games before scoring in the first and third periods. Pascal Dupuis, Colin Stuart and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored for Atlanta (21-21-1).

Thomas Vanek and Clarke MacArthur, called up from Rochester before the game, scored for Buffalo.